July 2010

In a very old episode of This American Life (listen here), John Hodgman asks the ultimate question: Flight vs. Invisibility? It’s an amusing party topic, a fun little game to play, but there’s actually more to it than that. As a “Super Rorschach Test,” the question is difficult to answer because the two choices both tell us very different things about ourselves. Flight is noble, something we aspire to; invisibility is a more primal desire, something hidden and mysterious. There’s even a More...

My second H.G. Wells novel. Honestly, I didn't enjoy The Invisible Man quite as much as I did The War of the Worlds. The storyline and writing were both top notch, but I just found it hard to REALLY enjoy a novel in which I totally despised the main character.

In all actuality, I guess my feelings towards the protagonist/antagonist (yes, both are the same character) would be considered a win for the author, as I feel that Wells didn't intend for the reader to truly like this character. What I fi More...

2.0 stars. I had not read this book in many years and so I decided to re-read it over the weekend. In retrospect, this might have been a big mistake. Previously, I had very fond memories of the book as one of the best of the “classic” horror stories along with Dracula, Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Well, it is certainly a classic of the genre, but I no longer feel like it deserves a place among the elite of its peers.

If can I may borrow and paraphrase from the More...

One man's strange desire to be something and nothing exacts its toll by driving him completely insane. Criminally insane. In our day and age, a man like this would be labeled a threat to society, a terrorist...at the turn of the century he was, merely THE INVISIBLE MAN.

*

Okay, so I finally sat down and watched the Universal Studios version of this (starring Claude Rains - what a hoot!); and I must say that, thanks to a friend allowing me to sit in on several of her film studies classes, I see no More...

While reading this book, I tried to imagine reading it in the late years of the 19th century,having in mind that it was an era of inventions, the invention of the television was shortly afterwards, in 1900 a television was shown in an electricity congress in Paris, and that was the first time it was called a television,the escalator, the radio,the helicopter,..etc and many other inventions of the first years of the 20th century, so those people thought that everything was possible, and especiall More...

Wells is famous for changing the course of science fiction. Up to the time of his writing, science fiction was more about the science than it was about the fiction: a reader need but pick up one of Jules Vernes' famous adventures to see that the science is painstakingly presented as quite real, quite feasible. Wells, however, opted to go further afield, using science that was not yet possible (indeed, we've yet to invent the invisible man or a time machine, and the latter seems entirely impossib More...

Do you think the notion of an invisible man was really foreign to the readers during the time Wells wrote? While I found this book moderately entertaining, thought the scientific "theories" were thought-provoking, and felt there were seeds of some really potent themes (however undernourished the seeds turned out to be), I feel like Wells was totally preoccupied with trying to describe to the reader what it would be like to have an invisible man in our midst. This isn't a concept that I (as a mod More...

This book was awesome but a little to violent for me... the word killing...makes me mad...hate that word. Well anyways, I accidentally spoiled it for my mom and dad. I'm horrible at keeping secrets about books, I just always want to talk about it after I read it,but I absolutely hate comprehension test. Anyways I'm totally jealous of the invisible man except I would NOT absolutely NOT like to be violent at all and not care for it. I's mean...totally mean...WOW!

Wonderfully written book, with an amazingly interesting, though already known to the majority, and intelligent story.

First of all I want to stress out the fact that the story is very well written, for H. G. Wells is a high-level writer. Besides it is written in a way that descriptions and low-paced parts are as interesting as the others, making you keep a steady reading pace along the whole book.

Regarding the story itself, I really found it interesting and very readable. It's a simple story, wit More...

I love Wells, why I was never made to read anything by him in high school I will never know. The Invisible Man follows the story of an un-named man who enters a tavern/inn in a small town. The man is wrapped head to toe in bandages, eyes covered by goggles and a hat pulled down. Assuming the mysterious man to have been horribly scarred, the innkeeper’s wife rents him a room without even asking his name. Very quickly the reader learns that the man is invisible, and not all that pleasant to begin More...

Science fiction owes a huge debt to H.G. Wells. His “scientific romances” explored conceits that writers are still fascinated with. SF fans worth their salt, then, will make it a point to read the major works of the Father of Science Fiction. In that spirit I picked up The Invisible Man.

A stranger takes up lodging in a rustic inn. His eccentric behavior is remarked upon, demanding complete privacy and going about in concealing attire. Inexplicable mischief arrives with him and, when word gets ou More...

I'd never thought that the invisibility of a human can bring him much more troubles than benefits.
the human brain can't handle the extraordinary becoming true that why it's just fantasy or science-fiction.

One of the neat things about Wells was his attention to detail. He was very careful to make the man an albino to facilitate his way of making the man invisible. Like the bit with the tea in "The First Men in the Moon", it's little things like this that make the story better than average. The character & situation are also well done.

I consider this one of the 'must reads' for anyone interested in SF. So many other works built off of it. It's an excellent baseline to measure them against. More...

I read this book along with several others which had become "classic" monster movies from Universal Studios at the beginning of the twenty first century. This one really stood out as being well-written and approachable for a modern reader. I enjoyed Wells's prose and his use of prosaic details to heighten the strangeness of his premise.

The best-known movie version remains the one directed by James Whale in 1933, starring Claude Rains. This retains some of the book's humor and the English countr More...

Cordie Wilkins
Monty, Leifleit
Humanities 1, Period 3
May 7, 2013

Book Review
The subject of the book is about a man that turns himself invisible and has to find a cure so he can be visable again. The name of the book is The Invisible Man. The author is H.G. Wells.The book is published by Waldman Publishing Corp. New York New York.The genre of the book is fiction.
Put book in context
This book is one, it is not in a series. This book is one of the Great Illustrated Classics. The kind of book is grea More...

El mensaje en esta historia esta todo mal. El hombre invisible falló, no porque fuera invisible, sino porque era un idiota egocéntrico engreído con demasiado mal genio. Claro que eso fue lo primero que lo llevo a volverse a sí mismo invisible, pero no creo que tenga mucho sentido. Quiero decir, con todo lo inteligente que era, como puede ser posible que cometiera tantos errores tan estúpidos y que al mismo tiempo este impaciente hombre lograra lo que ningún otro había logrado antes, que era la f More...

Cut off from Humanity--By Choice


Several rural villages in England are stalked by a new evil--an invisible man with no morals, who claims he has been forced by circumstances to institute his personal reign of terror. Cloaked in a costume of sorts to hide his self-inflicted invisible status (when it suits him), this "lone wolf genius" creates fear and havoc in his depredations of the unsuspecting countryside. Nasty pranks, then thefts culminate in murder and egomaniacal threats--dark traces of hi More...

I had wanted to read The Invisible Man (by Wells, not Ellison) ever since I read an edition that had been revised for 4th graders when I was in, well, 4th grade. Now that I finally have done so, I must say that I don't know what to say. I was hoping for better, but the book was not by any means bad. I found it a fairly easy read (a nice change of pace), which made the narrator's British humor and usage of random French words here and there. I didn't really care for the fact that the narrator ins More...

The Invisible Man is my second H.G. Wells novel, and while I prefer War of the Worlds, this book only encouraged me to read more of his works. This piece is about a man who manages through experimentation to turn himself completely translucent. He is only able to do so because he is an albino and through a series of treatments that turn his insides clear. He roams the British countryside, attempting to take over, but being invisible requires him to not have clothes on, which leaves him exposed t More...

The science is interesting but of course not completely sound, and the implications of what an invisible man really is or isn't capable of were very well portrayed as well, seeing both the limitations and advantages of such a power. Again, there is also an interesting metaphor here, a man who is really invisible becomes a monster, just as a man who is ignored and is invisible to a society may become a monster because they cannot socially grow.

The Invisible Man follows a scientist named Griffin More...

Not a bad read but definitely a short and basic one. I guess everything back then was like that, unlike today where each new work needs to combine a hundred things in order to be interesting.

So the story is about a man who manages to make himself invisible, and feeling too alien with the world around him soon turns to crime and madness. Ok, cool. Anything more than that? Sadly no; the most interesting parts in the plot is when he describes how can something become invisible by letting light go More...

Book Review: The Invisible Man
The Invisible Man, by H.G Wells, offers an obvious fiction story, but the fabrication and fantasy of the story in no way demeans its insight toward humanity and society as a whole. This novel is a short and entertaining read that delves into the imagination of the reader and stirs up thoughts and realizations about their own society. It has a spontaneous and unexpected plot scheme that also carries vital values related to views on culture and community.
The story t More...

El hombre invisible, que en su principio más parece una novelita cómica sobre costumbres de la campiña inglesa que un libro de ciencia ficción o un estudio sociológico sobre personas solas. El realismo de lo fantástico, llamó Conrad a esta manera de contar las cosas de Wells en este libro. Claro que luego tiene sus momentos inquietantes. El epílogo es lo que más me turba, porque es una metáfora sobre los malos lectores. Cuántas cosas nos perderemos de los libros que no sabemos comprender. Me inq More...

"Cizinec přišel jednoho mrazivého dne počátkem února právě v době, kdy řezavý vítr před sebou hnal prudkou metelici, poslední vánici té zimy. Cestu přes lada ze železniční zastávky Bramblehurst vykonal pěšky a v ruce, chráněné tlustou rukavicí, nesl černý kufřík.
Byl zahalený od hlavy až k patě a střecha měkkého plstěného klobouku mu zakrývala každičký kousíček obličeje kromě lesklé špičky jeho nosu. Na ramenou a na prsou měl vysoko naváto sněhu a na zavazadle, které si nesl, seděla bílá sněhová More...

If you've ever had a hankering to hear John De Lancie and Leonard Nimoy go tete-a-tete as mad scientist vs. pilfering professor, is this the audiobook for you!

The classing Sci-Fi tale of the good doctor who is wronged, stripped of his practice before he can even begin, and then uses a dangerous science to turn himself invisible for revenge, there's actually quite a bit of social commentary and mental discourse to this tale.

That said, John De Lancie's chanting of 'You can't catch me!' sounded sor More...

This is the first of H.G. Wells' works I've read, and I must say that, among the broad and seemingly limitless genre that is science fiction, it shall forever remain a masterpiece.

Wells accomplished more in 150 pages that many authors do in 400. Griffin (the main character/antagonist) undergoes a decent amount of character development, although he remains a mystery to other characters (and the reader) for the first three chapters.

On that note, I do feel Wells failed to establish Griffin's intend More...

I really enjoyed this classic. I was expecting it to be more of a horror story- and it was towards the end. But I was surprised at how darkly funny it was at the beginning. The story centers on Griffin, a young scientist who plays with the theories of optics and manages to find a way to make himself invisible. Thrilled at first, he discovers quickly the many drawbacks to his state and is horrified when he finds he can't reverse the procedure. His coming to Iping, a small provincial town, at the More...